YOUNGSTOWN — A Warren woman who faced felony charges after a miscarriage in 2023 has moved to amend her federal lawsuit by adding two more defendants to the case against Bon Secours Mercy Health, St. Joseph Warren Hospital and several individuals, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

The amended complaint seeks to add two new defendants, alleging their roles in violating Brittany Watts’ constitutional rights and medical privacy after she miscarried at home.

Watts’ case gained national attention when she was charged with felony abuse of a corpse following a miscarriage at 21 weeks, a charge later dismissed by a grand jury in January 2024.

The lawsuit, filed in January, claims that hospital staff and a Warren police detective wrongly reported her to authorities, leading to her arrest and prosecution, compounding the trauma of her pregnancy loss.

The amended complaint, as outlined in court documents, seeks to include Suzanne Zupko, a hospital risk management employee, and Fred Raines, a hospital police officer, as defendants.

Watts’ attorneys allege that these individuals played critical roles in the chain of events leading to her arrest.

According to the filing, Defendant Connie Moschell, a nurse at St. Joseph Warren Hospital, contacted Zupko and Raines before calling 911 to report that Watts had committed a crime by miscarrying at home.

The complaint alleges that Moschell falsely claimed Watts had given birth to a viable, live baby and left it in a bucket, despite knowing the fetus was non-viable and had died in utero. If Moschell’s account is accurate, the amended complaint argues, Zupko and Raines participated in initiating a malicious prosecution and violating Watts’ medical privacy by advising Moschell to contact police without probable cause.

The filing states that the amendment should be freely granted when justice requires, especially as Watts’ attorneys acted promptly after learning of Zupko and Raines’ involvement through recent discovery responses.

Watts’ ordeal began Sept. 19, 2023, when she sought care at St. Joseph Warren Hospital for vaginal bleeding and was diagnosed with placental abruption, a life-threatening condition.

Despite the urgency, she received no meaningful treatment over two days, returning home untreated after each visit.

On Sept. 22, Watts miscarried at home, delivering a non-viable fetus into her toilet. Unaware of the fetus’ presence amid blood and tissue, she flushed the toilet, which overflowed, and she attempted to clean up. She then returned to the hospital, where she was interrogated while in a vulnerable medical state.

The complaint alleges that Moschell, along with nurse Jordan Carrino and Warren police officer Nicholas Carney, fabricated evidence and misrepresented Watts’ statements to suggest she had harmed a live baby.

This led to her arrest on Oct. 5, 2023, for abuse of a corpse, a felony carrying up to a year in prison.

The grand jury’s refusal to indict Watts, coupled with the prosecutor’s public agreement that no crime occurred, are arguments Watts’ attorneys say showcase the lack of probable cause, according to the filing.

The amended complaint expands on the original lawsuit’s claims, which include violations of Watts’ Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendment rights, as well as state law claims for malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, medical negligence and unauthorized disclosure of medical information.

Specifically, it accuses Zupko and Raines of conspiring with Moschell, Carrino and Carney to violate Watts’ rights by falsely reporting a crime and breaching her medical privacy.

The lawsuit also alleges that St. Joseph Warren Hospital and Bon Secours Mercy Health violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) by failing to provide stabilizing treatment for Watts’ emergency condition, leading to her untreated miscarriage and subsequent trauma.

Dr. Parisa Khavari, Watts’ obstetrician, is accused of medical negligence for delaying treatment and failing to inform Watts of her options, such as a dilation and evacuation procedure.

Watts’ legal team filed the motion to amend the complaint on the deadline set by the court’s scheduling order, stating their diligence in reviewing discovery responses that revealed Zupko and Raines’ roles.

Watts’ attorneys contacted the defendants’ counsel Aug. 1 to inquire about opposition to the motion, but received no response before filing.

The case has drawn significant attention for its implications on reproductive rights and medical privacy, particularly in the context of Ohio’s legal landscape post-Roe v. Wade.

Watts’ attorneys argue that the defendants’ actions not only caused physical and emotional harm but also subjected her to public humiliation, with her arrest widely reported and her personal information exposed.